“Whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it.” Mark 8:35
You go to church, and you think, Should I really commit myself? Maybe I will, maybe I won’t. Perhaps you have been on the fence about following Jesus for a long time. What is at stake in this decision?
- Your life is at stake
“Whoever would save his life will lose it” (8:35).
Everything that you try to keep, you lose in the end. What you lose for the gospel, you keep for eternity. If you live for yourself, a day will come when you’ll wish you could have your life back and live it for Christ. - Your soul is at stake
“What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?” (8:36).
Your life will never end. Even if you take your own life, you just move it to another place. Hell has many pains but one must surely be to know what you might have become, to know that you are wasting away when you could have been enjoying the life of a child of God. - Your eternity is at stake
“Whoever is ashamed of me and of my words… of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed” (8:38).
Imagine Jesus being ashamed of you when He returns. You have been embarrassed about Him. You didn’t want your friends to think that you belonged to Him. Now He doesn’t want anyone to think that He belongs to you.
Are you giving these factors the right level of importance? You may be concerned about sports, relationships, career, money, and leisure. But Jesus is speaking to you about your life, your soul, and your eternity.
What level of importance are you giving these factors on a scale from (1) critically important to (10) not at all important? How could you change their priority while you still have time?
